CONNECTING PEOPLE

Welcome - This blog was created to discuss the common questions and topics concerning the start-up and ongoing operations ofA Brush with Kindness and Age in Place

Friday, July 16, 2010

Person Centered Programming

ABWK in the Twin Cities has always structured our program around the needs of our families. Our focus is on who we serve and meeting the needs of those families so they can continue living in a safe, decent home.

We could not be as successful as we have been over the years without structuring our program based on family need rather than the work to be done or based on our home buyer program. Had we structured ourselves based on the work to be done, we would have relied heavily on our home building based model.
However, we began by building our structure around relationships with struggling homeowner families, potential volunteers and donors. As we came to understand the needs of our families we were able to market these opportunities to potential volunteers and donors.

Therefore, we have combined family services, volunteer supervision and construction management into a very tight knit position and then supported that position(s) with staff to coordinate these services and relationships with our Habitat Volunteer, Development departments and ReStore. This has worked extremely well and has allowed us to grow in the number of families served and in the depth of the work scope we provide.

If we were to change our model that has been successful with homeowner families and integrate into our model that provides services to our home buying families, our growth and scope of program would have been very limited.
Affiliates need to be aware that the needs of home buying families and homeowner families are very different.

If affiliates are to reach their potential with ABWK, they need to take two different approaches in certain programmatic area's. Take advantage of the area's where there is natural synergy (volunteer recruitment and fund raising) with home building but for the sake of effectively serving families, efficiency, coordination and growth there must be individuals dedicated to tasks that are ABWK specific.abwk habitat for humanity

ABWK in the Twin Cities, MN

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Messages That Matter

It is important to find messages that comunicate the essence of your new program. The public will pick up on those messages that connect with their values. We have used "Ever have a brush with kindness?" and "Connecting people... Restoring homes" as well as key quotes and scripture that resonate with our constituents. Check out the slide show below to see quotes that have inspired our messaging.

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About Me

I founded A Brush with Kindness 16 years ago. With tremendous support from the Valspar corporation, we created a program that helped preserve homeownership throughout the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area so that families could continue to live in a safe, healthy home. I have helped to start over 100 programs throughout the US and in several countries as a consultant with HFHI. I currently direct the ABWK program at Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. Locally, A Brush with Kindness serves about 130 families each year. Feel free to contact me for more information at plund@abwk.net.